Japanese Cult Cinema: Films from the Second Golden Age is a collection of film reviews and in-depth essays exploring some of the best from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.

During the period between the early 1990s and early 2000s the Japanese film industry enjoyed its biggest boom since the post-war era. Cult monster and horror films like Godzilla 2000, and Audition enjoyed successful releases overseas and Hollywood remakes.

In her first book, Upton explores some of her favorite Japanese films and directors in the crime, kaiju and J-horror genres. In the essays, she digs deeper, using semiotic and feminist interpretations to explore notions of authorship, gender, and the adaptation process for some of the most interesting films to come out of this era including Ringu, Cure and Kikujiro.